Ones and Zeros
by LilacsBloom
Summary: They had gone on many adventures on their journey through time, but there one that made Serah question her identity more than anything, and the existence of the human spirit Noel had once told her was a gift from the Goddess. What was it really to be human? [Based on the Paradox Ending: Test Subjects] Hinted Serah/Noel


A/N: Originally this fic was a deleted piece I'd written in my other FFXIII-2 fic, Adam and Eve. However because it strayed too far from the actual plot, I winded up cutting it. But with some encouragement from a certain reader of mine, I decided to revise and adapt it into a longer standalone piece. So a big special thanks to Steph for helping me get my butt in gear.

Test Subjects was one of my favorite Paradox Endings for FFXIII-2, thus I'm glad to finally be able to share something based on that idea, and fulfill my own wishes of what more I would've loved to have seen on those duplicates of Noel and Serah.

Enjoy

* * *

**_Ones and Zeros..._**

* * *

_They had gone on many adventures on their journey through time, but there one that made Serah question her identity more than anything, and the existence of the human spirit Noel had once told her was a gift from the Goddess._

_It was during their time in the Augusta Tower in 200AF, when they had been held prisoner there by the Proto fal'Cie, Adam. She and Noel had worn themselves flat out after failing to find a way to defeat it, unable to even raise their swords for another battle with the machine that kept rebuilding itself over and over again._

_Beaten into submission, it could've killed them; crushed them like bugs and be done the two humans and moogle that tried to interfered with its plan. Instead, the Proto fal'Cie had locked them away, keeping the three confined within a ceil without walls, without bars or restraints; just a round floating platform with a long drop below and a high ceiling above that were the means the Proto fal'Cie used to keep them from escaping._

_They were trapped up there, with no way to get down or climb off. And while spending their whole duration there, Adam had been running scans over them via the scanners built into the platform itself; rays of blue lights streaming up and down their bodies every few minutes no matter where they were standing. The purpose behind those scans however, the trio had been yet unclear of, only that they had unsettled Serah every time a new scanning cycle repeated itself…_

* * *

"If it's trying to blind us, it's going the right way about it."

Serah opened her eyes once the neon lights shone passed her face, watching then trailing down the rest of her body all the way to her toes before vanishing again. "No I don't think that's it, Noel…I…I think maybe Adam's using the A.I to scan our DNA and turn it into data."

"You mean like what the fake Alyssa we met said, about all that biophysical whatchamacallit stuff?" Across the platform, Noel sharply stood up from where he'd been knelt, looking over the edge. "Wait a sec, then if that's true-"

"Right," Serah clutched at her pendent tightly. "It wants to makes copies out of **us**."

Noel cursed. "So that's why it hasn't killed us, not yet at least. It needs us to create duplicates."

"Exactly, and once it's finished, it won't needs us anymore. It'll kill us the same as it did Hope and Alyssa," Serah said, staring up at the shaft of circulating lights above their heads, that carried on all the way into the darkness. "And then, we'll die just like the fake Caius said…"

* * *

_And they had been right. Minutes after, while the three had still been discussing exactly what it was they would do for an escape plan, the platform just sudden **disappeared** from under their feet without any warning. She and Noel had gone plummeting down into the tower, with Mog flying desperately after them as they fell._

_The Proto fal'Cie had intended for gravity to finish the job and kill them off, however little had Adam known was that the two time travelers knew more than one way to put magic to use. And it was only with Serah's quick thinking, and the luck of being able to grab hold of Noel's arm while they were falling, that they'd both been able to unleashed their aeroga spells together, combing enough force to slow their descent. So that when they did finally land on one of the lower levels some few hundred floors below, the worst injuries they sustained were nothing more than a few minor bruises._

_Little time did they have to rest however, before the sirens had started blaring throughout the Augusta Tower, and the floor they were on was quickly overrun by monsters under the Proto fal'Cie's control. Still weary from their previous battles, but unwilling to give up, they fought them all head on, slaying one beast after the other until none were left standing._

_Nothing was going to stop them, for they had needed to reach the top and destroy Adam for good, or else the future would've been lost. The problem was, that the Proto fal'Cie wasn't going to go down without a fight, and they soon discovered what extremes it to going to take in order to kill its' intruders._

* * *

"What in the…"

Noel had spotted them first before she and Mog did; Serah's brain immediately confused by what she was seeing the second she laid eyes on the three figures in front of them, and saw another Noel; another Mog...and another her.

Serah thought she was looking into a mirror, even though she knew that wasn't possible, because they had just walked right by where a mirror should've been in order for them to be seeing their reflections. But they weren't reflections at all, neither one mimicked their actions. Instead they merely stood motionless as statues, their faces a devoted of all emotion.

It hadn't taken Serah long to figure out they were their digital duplicates, and that what she had previously feared to happen, had indeed become reality.

And when the voice of Adam broke the air, both she, Noel and Mog soon realized what their purpose was.

"**Mission objective: eradicated viruses currently infecting network environment."**

Their duplicates immediately responded; their very first words sounding monotone as they soon armed themselves and charged at the trio, with the full intent to carry out those orders.

"Understood."

"I shall obey."

"Kupo."

Serah was terrified, coming face-to-face in a duel with herself. It felt like something out of nightmare, seeing another Serah trying to **murder** her. Yet as she had dodged her duplicate's attacks one after the other, Serah soon noticed her copy moved much slower than she did. The duplicate's reactions were delayed, her every movement wooden and clunky like a doll. And on stealing a quick glance at Noel battling his own duplicate, she saw this to be the same story for him as well.

Their copies were imperfect.

"A man is his own worst enemy. Somebody took that motto a little too seriously," Noel pungently said panting, after he'd defeated his duplicate with a gladius sword to the chest, while Serah had been able to knock her copy over the edge of the platform with a kick to the stomach; her duplicate not even so much as screaming as she fell over the side, inevitably to her death.

"W-Why, why would Proto fal'Cie bring us here in order to make copies of us?" Serah asked, her hands still shaking from where they were gripped hilt of the sword; the thought of her clone's vacant stare causing her to shiver. "What exactly would it have to gain from any of this?"

"Protection, that's what. We're the tools it decided to make something useful out of," Noel said, staring at the body of his duplicated laying dead on the glass floor as it broke down into honeycomb shards of light. "It probably saw us as a threat when it learned we were trying to change the future. It needs us out the picture to prevent itself being erased from history, so what better plan than to turn that threat into something constructive to protect it from future dangers?"

"Tools…" Serah said, feeling a knot form in her stomach. "Why do I get the feeling it's not done with us yet?"

Reattaching the swords to his back, Noel's bitterly answered. "Because this thing's too stubborn to quit."

* * *

_The worst had been yet to come, for as they'd docked the elevator for the higher levels, those scanners the trio had encountered in their prison reactivated from beneath their feet, extracting more of their biophysical data. And when they arrived on the highest floor that elevator could take them to, another set of duplicates were waiting for them, and a second battle ensued._

_Unlike the first copies, these duplicated moved quicker, and were much trickier in blocking their attacks. More fluent their bodies were, they were still very stiff-like in their actions. It had taken twice as long, but they had soon fallen like the last duplicates, dying in an explosion of data as the deadly bolts of thunder magic finished them off._

_This cycle repeated itself over and over, and became as repetitive and grueling as their battle with the Proto fal'Cie. Every elevator they used, the scanners would extract more of their DNA, where they would soon have to face another, more perfected copy of themselves several floors up._

_To prevent any mix up of accidently confusing the real deal for fake, she and Noel only fought with their own duplicates, but it made for the most psychological test Serah had ever gone up against, having to **kill **herself numberless times. Even though there was never any blood and their remains vanished after they were slayed, it was still a nerve-racking experience to go through._

_With each battle however, it had gotten much harder to win as their energy was drained away, while their copies got even strong. Much too frequent had Serah's duplicates caught her by surprise; swiping her side with a sword or piecing the skin of her shoulder with an arrow. The blank doll like gaze in their eyes was fading more with every copy, with something more human beginning stare back at her. But there was no compassion, just straight out rage. And as Adam continued analyzing their battle strategy, so did their duplicates evolve further into the bodyguards the machine desired._

_Her and Noel on the other hand; were close to dropping..._

* * *

The final batch of duplicates waited for them at the top of the tower, standing exactly in the place where they had met Yeul near the A.I's core hours before. Serah noticed a difference in these particular duplicates instantly. No more did they stand like empty vessels, as they stalked slowly towards her and Noel like wolfs impatiently waiting to strike their prey; the rage in their eyes burning more intensely than ever as they wielded their weapons at the ready.

But the most surprising of all, was that these duplicates…had names.

"**Subject Alpha and Subject Beta, eradicated viruses currently infecting network environment."**

"Gladly."

"As you wish."

And without any hesitation, the two attacked.

Casting magic did no good this time. Serah could barely spare enough time between the clashing of their blades to throw even one spell at her duplicate, Beta. Her copy must've known this; that magic was her strongest ability, for how aggressively she was attacking her, not giving Serah a moment's rest. Beta was _her_, with all any traces of humanity and compassion removed; the perfect killer.

It was too much. Serah wasn't able to gain the upper hand. Beta was just too strong and agile, never slowing or tiring, while Serah was running on empty, finding it tougher to keep going when she was being physically outmatched by her copy. There were many cuts by that blade; too many close calls, that when both their swords were knocked away by other's struggling; Serah had barely the strength to block as Beta punched her across the cheek, kicking her in the ribs as soon as she went down. Serah screamed, but nothing came out, for another blow to her stomach quickly choked her of breath, making it impossible to call for Noel's help.

The moment she tried getting up, Serah felt those cold hands locking around her neck as if they were made of steel, and the back of her head was slammed against the floor. Her eyes flying open, she saw Beta was leaned over her; a smirk spreading across her thin lips as she squeezed tighter at Serah's neck, cutting off the last of her air supply as she soon struggled to breathe. Fought she did to push Beta off her, it did no good, her duplicate was overpowering her and was hell bent on crushing her throat if it meant coming out the victor. And without a voice to speak the words of magic, no spells could aid her.

Serah was in trouble, big trouble.

"Get away from her, kupo!" Mog cried as he broke free from his weapon form and flew over with great haste, only for his own duplicate to tackle him before he could get close enough. Serah tried to call Noel's name, shout it, yet again nothing but a croak escaped her lips, unheard by the young man who was too caught up attempting to survive in the fight against his own doppelganger, Alpha, to notice she was in peril. Even if he did and was able to hold off his attacker long enough to get to her, would he be able to figure out who was who? Or would Noel risk attacking her and not her copy? Serah couldn't even tell from here which Noel was which!

Their duplicates were just too much like them, near to being almost authentic.

In those few seconds, everything started to get hazy; her limbs becoming heavy as her mind began to gradually slip away, like the very hands she held clinging to her duplicate's wrists, and it dawned on Serah that she was dying. She wanted to resist, so much to she wanted to, but she had nothing else to give. And as the darkness fell over her vision, Serah was afraid she might never see her sister ever again; that their journey to change time, would be over...

Then suddenly, Beta let go.

Acid burning on the inside of her lungs, Serah gasped in the oxygen she was starved of and her senses came rushing back, and with them, so did the pain.

"Sn…Snow…"

It was Beta talking, not her; staring down at her with those wide blue eyes. Slowly her duplicate reached for the silver pedant Serah wore around her neck, before touching the exact copy of the one Beta wore herself. And as having been snapped out of a trance, Serah's duplicate climb off her, scrabbling away like a frightened child. All the anger fueling her duplicated was gone, and what remained was…

Strenuously Serah sat up, clutching her neck in one hand as her duplicate stared right back at her, and Serah could see it was no act. Beta was scared, genuinely **scared.**

The Proto fal'Cie had wanted to created duplicates out of our group that would be able to protect the tower, yet in its mission to achieve that, it had extracted _too much_ of their data to be transferred into the duplicates, enough so that the grip of control it once held on them had fractured, and instead allowed for something else to slip through that hadn't in the others copies.

A soul…

Stumbling as she stood up, Beta whipped her head around the fluorescent lit room as if she had never seen it before. Those artificial eyes soon found the other occupants of the tower, where the near defeated Alpha had collapsed on his knees, while the blood stained but very much alive Noel, was transforming his flame fossil into a javelin, preparing to throw the weapon and finish his duplicate off for good.

"_**NO!**_" Beta screamed and went shooting forward, not towards the real Noel, but straight at Alpha, diving into the path of the javelin that impaled itself deep in her stomach; the impact knocking the two duplicates backwards across the floor.

She had saved his life…

It was in that sacrifice, emotions soon triggered in Alpha as well as those swords of his were discarded the moment he saw the cost of Beta's actions, and he was soon reaching over to help his digital companion.

"Serah? Serah!" the iciness to his voice no more, a frantic worry took its place. He held Beta from where she laid, lights sparking out of her abdomen like small fireworks from where the Javelin was imbedded. Like all the other copies, no blood flowed, and yet Alpha showed reluctance to remove it, as if she would bleed out like a real human if he did.

Beta gave no visible signs that she was suffering from such a fatal injury, as though it didn't hurt her at all. Even so, water was beginning to well in her eyes, streaming down her face as real as tears could be for a duplicate.

The words she whispered up at Alpha, made Serah's body go cold.

"What…what are we..?"

While Alpha failed to come up with an answer, Serah flinched when Noel's arms unexpectedly came around her, silently helping her up onto her feet as the two of them watched on, unsure of what to say or how to deal with what shouldn't be happening. She and Noel were only able to exchange a single look, each sharing mixture of emotions, before the Proto fal'Cie's inhuman voice boomed out from the speakers throughout the tower; catching both duplicates and originals off guard. But it wasn't new orders to the duplicates, or a warning for her and Noel to leave the Augusta Tower…no, it turned out to be something far more sinister.

"**Anomalies detected in Subject Alpha and Subject Beta. Initializing de-resolution of Subject Alpha and Subject Beta, in 30…29…"**

"No! No I don't wanna die! Please don't kill us!" Beta cried, trying to get up, but the javelin in her stomach made it impossible. "Please let us go! I want to live! You have to let us go!"

There was no begging from Alpha, maybe he already knew trying such a thing with the Proto fal'Cie would do no good. The machine that had given them life, was about to take it away from them. There was no escaping their fate, and there was nothing she and Noel could do about it, because without the Proto fal'Cie and the A.I, their duplicates wouldn't be able to survive. And their duplicates knew this too, because both she and Noel did. They were the same…

So instead of pleading for the mercy that would never come, Alpha gathered Beta closer to him in his arms, mirroring Noel's own actions from when he had cradled the dying Seeress just hours before in Academia. And Serah could tell the painful look on Noel's face, he'd been thinking of the exact same thing.

And as his duplicate spoke, his voice cracked, just as much Noel's had on that rainy night in the city…

"Serah, Serah it's okay."

"But Lightning, and Snow…I-I need to find them, I can't go yet!" Despite being on the verge of death, Beta remained determined as ever to move, to keep her eyes open. "I have to see them one more time, I have to…"

Fifteen seconds left, and with time fading away from them fast, Alpha gently held Beta's hand with an affection that seemed all too real. Not far from them the duplicate of Mog dropped his staff as he departed from the side of the real Mog, the quarreling between them long over, as he floated down to Beta's side and he rested both his paws on top of the two duplicates' hands, giving a supportive kupo.

Alpha smiled. "You will. You fell asleep, remember?"

Beta stared at him funny, sounding dozy. "I'm dreaming?"

"Sure you are; we all are. And we'll all wake up together again very soon," Alpha told her with a brave face, though Serah could see his eyes were shinning, as if they were brimming with tears as well. "Then we'll go and find Lightning together, and meet up with Snow again. Everything will be alright."

As the last of those seconds counted down to zero, Beta smiled up at him, her voice carried off in a faint whisper as their bodies broke down into fragments of light, and they were erased from existence, _forever..._

"You're a bad liar, Noel."

* * *

_Data in a machine, an artificial life form. They were nothing but puppies to the Proto fal'Cie's, like all the other duplicates before them. But for a time, however brief, Alpha and Beta, and the duplicate of Mog, had both been alive. Yet they had been born trapped, locked in a cage they couldn't escape, and existing only to follow a single path they couldn't stray from, not without their demise. And in the end, they were forced to die by the Proto fal'Cie's will, without any other choice._

_Serah had been cursed by the power of a fal'Cie in Bodhum. She knew of the suffering of having that fal'Cie hold her life in its hands. No one deserves to live and die like that, not even duplicates…_

_Long after having left the Augusta Tower, Serah still wasn't able to forget what happened there, she didn't want to. Whether or not they were just bits of data, she would keep the memories of Alpha and Beta alive, and follow through with her own duplicate's wishes to see her sister again. Lightning was counting on them to change the future, so Serah refused to become puppets to the master of fate that threatened to cast them the flames. Whoever was behind all these paradoxes riddled across the timeline, and taking her sister away, Serah wouldn't let them win._

_Though while they kept moving forward, Serah couldn't help looking back at that day with regret in her heart, while asking herself the moral question, if both they; their duplicates and the circumstances they were in now and back in that tower, were really all that much different from each other…_

* * *

_**-End-**_


End file.
